The Declining Russian Economy

The economy has affected more than just Americans last year. Russia, one of the richest countries in the world, has also suffered much loss threw economic reasons. According to the business magazine Finans, of Russia, the top 10 richest Russians lost over two-thirds of their fortunes over the last year. Many stock buyers such as Vladimir Lisin, Alexei Mordashov, and Oleg Deripaska, dropped from this list of wealthiest men. Roman Abramovich, on the other hand, did not loose his second place, but simply lost a lot of money. On the good side, Mikhail Prokhorov, had sold one of the bad stocks, Norilsk Nickel, early last year and went up from his seventh place in the list. In my opinion, it is a good and bad thing that stocks dropped internationally. The bad thing is that many people lost money. Alternatively, this was good because countries can’t blame other countries for the lost money because it happened all over the world.

I got my information from:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29224553/

Earthquake in New Jersey

Late on February 2nd, a little after 10:30 pm, a small earthquake struck northern New Jersey. It was a minor earthquake, nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged. A seismologist, Won-Young Kim, says the earthquake had a magnitude of 3.0. On the eleven o’clock news that night, a resident of Rockaway said it “was not a typical earthquake.” He also said, “I’m a native Californian and I have been through several earthquakes. At the very second the floor shook, we heard a big boom, an explosion type of noise. It was like one, quick impact.” The police got many frantic 911 calls saying that people heard the sound of an explosion and houses shaking. Kim said that it was not unusual to have an earthquake in New Jersey. Forty-seven earthquakes have rattled, in New Jersey, since 1974. In my opinion, the earthquake was a big deal to most people in New Jersey, because they did not expect it.

I got my Information from:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_re_us/nj_earthquake

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28997421/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28987317/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28986971/

(small articles)

History Takes a Turn: Obama Becomes President: The Inauguration of Barack Obama

The inauguration of President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, was a very historical day witnessed around the world. It was the day America had it first African American President. Everyone hoped change would come but never expected it so soon. Now, finally, change has come. As Bush leaves the President seat to Obama, we will be awaiting change to come from the new President of the United States of America.

The success of President Obama in history will not only matter on the color his skin but on what he does to fix what Bush has left behind. The horrible economy, the unemployment, the thousands without health care, the two wars going on at the moment, all are something that Obama and his administration need to fix. As said in ‘article one’, by South Carolina Democrat, “But after the Inaugural celebration ends, I caution the American people to have patience. We face many great challenges that took more than 100 days to create, and will take more that 100 days to rectify.” In other words, this person is trying to say that America must have patience. The many problems took many days to make and will take many days to solve. Many people are saying that Obama is like the new Martin Luther King Jr. He might be someone like that but in his own way. Obama will be his own person. He might follow in the steps of King, but in 60 years, historians and Americans will follow in the steps of Obama.

“Humility, gratitude, and sacrifice.” Right from the minute that Barack Obama assumed office he showed humility and gratitude, and set the tone for sacrifice by the nation’s citizens. He talked about three themes that are spreading across the nation – Economic crisis, wars, and the declining greatness of America as a country in the world. President Obama knows these are America’s issues for the near future and now that he is officially president he will begin take on the challenge. He called on all of us help him bring back America’s greatness as a nation in the world. Regarding our economic challenges, our new President wants us all to be more responsible citizens. Finally, he promised that America was a friend of each nation and that he would fight for peace and dignity.

In my opinion, Barack Obama will become a great president. With so many supporters, I believe he will get everyone to help make America the best. I wonder if he will do even better than that. Without a doubt President Barack Obama will be the best president America has ever seen.

I got my information from:

Article one:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090120/ap_on_go_pr_wh/inauguration_analysis

Article two:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090120/us_time/08599187273800